Sermon and Worship Resources

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Showing 4101 to 4125 of 4943 results

4101. Little Things Affect Little Minds

Sermon

Harold Warlick

A prominent executive entered his secretary’s office for a confrontation. He was there to raise an unpleasant issue. For several days his discomfort and anger had built up like an internal volcano. It bothered him when he ate and prohibited restful sleep. Like an unfriendly ghost, the problem haunted him. He had talked about it with his wife and his friends. Finally he could take it no more. So there he stood, at his secretary’s desk, ready for the attack. He jerked himself up on his toes and, pointing his ...

4102. Behold Your God

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

Michael J. Anton

People without a country. Fathers and mothers trying to hold their frustrated families together by telling and re-telling the ancient stories of the good old days in far-off Jerusalem, now lying in ruins, the smoke of her ashes still twisting to the sky. People trying to eke out the best existence possible under the thumb of their Babylonian overlords. Those are the people to whom these glorious and triumphant words of Isaiah were first shouted. If you were ever a prisoner of war, or if you were ever ...

4103. Religion In A Nutshell

Mark 12:28-34

Sermon

Robert Allen

Mildred was a fine lady. She was 64 years old when the doctors discovered that she had terminal cancer. She was in and out of the hospital several times receiving her treatments, and each time she seemed to be a little weaker than the time before. Mildred was married to one of the roughest roughnecks in Oklahoma. He was a big, burly man, and one look at him told you that in his younger days, he was the kind of fellow who didn’t step aside for any man. However, around Mildred, he had become quiet and almost ...

4104. The Escape

Drama

Douglas W. Orbaker

The story takes place in a Roman prison in Jerusalem during the Jewish Passover festival. The time is early in the first century, around 33 AD. As the play opens, a small cell appears with a barred window to the center rear, and containing two cots, one on either side. There is a prisoner on each cot, staring at the ceiling. (As the lights go on, the roar of a crowd is heard off-stage.) Theudas (He gets up from cot and goes to the window.) Well, I see the natives are restless. I wonder what all the ...

4105. "The Sawdust and the Circus"

Numbers 27:12-23

Sermon

This being Evangelism Sunday in our church, I made the flip remark to someone last week that I was going to preach about the "sawdust trail." And the answer I received really stopped me. "Oh," this person said, "going to talk about the circus, huh? What’s so theological about that?" I had thought that the "sawdust trail" was an expression that was so much of a cliche that everyone knew just what it meant - but apparently that was not the case. The sawdust trail, of course, got its name from the old tent ...

4106. Looking Ahead with Hope

John 1:43-51

Sermon

Text: "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" John 1:46 The wedding march had just begun. I stepped to the center of the chancel area. In the ministry there is no moment as deeply moving as that when a wedding march begins. The groom took his place, followed by the best man, at the front of the sanctuary. Down the aisle came the ushers and the bridesmaids. Then into the Narthex came the bride - beautiful, radiant, on the arm of her father. As she moved slowly down the aisle, every eye was fixed upon her ...

4107. OUR LORD FORSAKEN

Sermon

E. Jerry Walker

As the winds rose and the black sky threatened to unleash its wrath the crowd on the hillside began to melt away, small groups and pairs and an occasional individual hurried toward the dark, brooding buildings of the city. Even the morbid attraction of a crucifixion could not hold the fickle mob against the portent of the fury of a spring storm. At the last there were few to witness the deaths of the crucified or their laborious descent from the crosses. The four soldiers who had made up the crucifixion ...

4108. In All Things Be Thankful

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Sermon

Brett Blair

Back during the dark days of 1929, a group of ministers in the Northeast, all graduates of the Boston School of Theology, gathered to discuss how they should conduct their Thanksgiving Sunday services. Things were about as bad as they could get, with no sign of relief. The bread lines were depressingly long, the stock market had plummeted, and the term Great Depression seemed an apt description for the mood of the country. The ministers thought they should only lightly touch upon the subject of ...

4109. Astonishing!

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Brett Blair

For centuries people believed that Aristotle was right when he said that the heavier an object, the faster it would fall to earth. Aristotle was regarded as the greatest thinker of all time, and surely he would not be wrong. Anyone, of course, could have taken two objects, one heavy and one light, and dropped them from a great height to see whether or not the heavier object landed first. But no one did until nearly 2,000 years after Aristotle's death. Legend has it that in 1589 Galileo summoned learned ...

4110. Father Knows Best?

Matthew 5:1-12

Drama

Dave Marsh

Director's Notes Our pastor decided to work his way through the Beatitudes so I opened up Matthew 5 to get some ideas. What struck me was that believers and non-believers alike could easily gloss over these as nice, little one-liners by Jesus. Since I knew that Pastor Ray would be dissecting the verses for the congregation, I thought I would have fun with the drama and show that without the wisdom of God we can't really understand what His Word says. So, in typical Dave Marsh fashion, I decided to take it ...

4111. The Game of Life (A Drama about Personal Accountability)

Drama

Dave Marsh

Director's Notes: It's easy to get caught up in the world and forget what is really important and where our priorities should be. We can also start blaming each other for our own lack of self-control and accountability. This is one of my favorites since many times it hits close to home... Cast: Jack: A normal husband and father Sandy: Jack's wife Vicki: A friend of the family Props: Table/desk The game of Life Bowl of chips, etc. Setting: Jack and Sandy's kitchen (LIGHTS UP CENTER STAGE - Jack, Sandy, and ...

4112. Christian Liberty

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Brett Blair

Jesus died penniless. Roman soldiers cast lots to divide among themselves Jesus' only possessions--the clothes on his back. And he looked at his disciples and said, blessed are you who are poor. Jesus died hungry. There is no record that Jesus had anything to eat the day of his death. What we call The Last Supper on Thursday evening may very well have been Jesus' last meal. He died on the cross Friday at sunset with an empty stomach. Looking at his disciples he said, blessed are you who hunger now. Jesus ...

4113. The Best Birthday Ever

Psalm 90:1-17

Sermon

David E. Leininger

St. Paul's 40th Birthday. And some of you here in 1998 were here in 1958. Things are different now, of course. Churches change and neighborhoods change and even whole societies change. We know that WE change as we get older. I remember the days when it seemed that Christmas or a birthday would NEVER get here; and now I think, "Is it here again ALREADY?" You too? LOTS of things change with age. Not long ago, someone noted some of the more obvious adjustments.(1) It was entitled, "YOU'RE NOT A KID ANYMORE ...

4114. God and Hurricanes

Matthew 5:43-48

Sermon

David E. Leininger

A scary few days, eh? Just a week ago we were hearing about this incredibly powerful Hurricane Floyd in the Atlantic that might be heading in our direction - almost a Category 5 with sustained winds near the eye of 155 miles per hour. And it cut a wide swath too, hundreds of miles in diameter. Fool that I am, I normally do not worry much about hurricanes. I have come through a few. During my years of living on the coast, I evacuated in the face of oncoming storms along with everyone else. I still have a ...

4115. Fish Bait

Luke 5:1-11

Sermon

David E. Leininger

Two guys go on a fishing trip. They rent all the equipment: the reels, the rods, the wading suits, the rowboat, the car, and even a cabin in the woods. They spend a fortune. The first day they go fishing they don't catch a thing. The same thing happens on the second day, and on the third day. It goes on like this until finally, on the last day of their vacation, one of the men finally catches a fish. As they drive home, they are both really depressed. One turns to the other and says, "Do you realize that ...

4116. Preparing for the Unexpected

Luke 12:35-48

Sermon

King Duncan

Joe Claro tells a great story about the making of one of Cecil B. DeMille's epic films. The film was a biblical extravaganza with a cast of thousands. Normally, movies are filmed in tiny pieces, but this day's scene was going to be shot live, with all six hundred or so actors and extras going into action at once. DeMille had stationed eleven cameras at various points to pick up the action. They had started work at six in the morning and the complete scene had been rehearsed four times. After each rehearsal ...

4117. Come To The Feast

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

Eric Ritz

The Academy Award winning movie, BABETTE'S FEAST, is based on a book by Isak Dinesen. Dineson wrote the book on which the movie, OUT OF AFRICA, was based. In BABETTE'S FEAST the author very creatively weaves the story of Phillipa and Martina, two daughters of a well-known Lutheran pastor in a village in the north of Denmark in the late 1870s. Their father's very rigid and strict religious discipline has shaped the entire community~s approach to life and to the expression of their Christian faith. The ...

4118. Persistence In Prayer

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

I believe you will agree with me that this is one election season that all of us will be happy to see come to an end. One of the candidates for president . . . I won’t say which one . . . was campaigning in West Virginia recently. Some of the coal miners were not real happy about it when the candidate asked for their vote. “Vote for you?” one of them jeered. “Why, I’d sooner vote for the Devil!” “Fair enough!” called out the candidate, “But in the event that your friend doesn’t run, may I have your ...

4119. Isn't It Time To Get It Right?

Romans 5:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

Did you ever notice that some people always get it wrong? Paul Harvey, in his book FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH, tells about a county jail in south Florida where jail officials found a plastic trash bag hanging to the bars of a cell. Inside was Jimmy Jones, a prisoner who hoped he'd get taken out with the trash. And he might have -- except during roll call his reflexes took over. And when the name Jimmy Jones was called... From inside the bag came a muffled response: "Here." Some people just can't get it right. But ...

4120. One In Christ

Galatians 3:15-25

Sermon

Dr. Ronald Love

It was Christmas Eve. A young Norman Vincent Peale was shopping with his father, Dr. Charles Clifford Peale. Clifford Peale was a physician who gave up his medical practice to become a pastor in the Methodist Episcopal Church. They were walking along Fourth Street in Cincinnati when a bum ” what we would call today a street person ” approached them. The man stretched out his filthy hand, placing it like a claw on young Norman's shoulder. Frightened and repulsed, Norman shook himself free and ran down the ...

4121. Pray Constantly

Luke 18:1-8

Sermon

King Duncan

Two women met unexpectedly one day in the parking lot of a local bookstore. One had a great bundle of books in her arms. "What in the world are you doing," her friend asked, "opening your own bookstore?" "No," said the woman, "these are all books about prayer. All my life I have been hearing about the importance of prayer, so I finally decided to learn how to pray. I have bought fourteen books on the subject. And not only that, I have signed up for two courses in prayer, one at my church and one at a ...

4122. What's Wrong With Laughing?

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

King Duncan

Sometimes the words of Jesus, taken out of context, can cause us real problems. Imagine if you and I were sales people and we had invited Jesus to speak at our annual sales banquet. Imagine Jesus standing up as the guest speaker, looking us over with a strange mixture of anger and compassion, and then speaking these words: "But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. ...

4123. If You Are The King Of The Jews....

Luke 23:26-43

Sermon

King Duncan

Actor Kevin Bacon had a conversation with his six-year-old son after the boy had seen the movie Footloose for the first time. Bacon's son said, "Dad, that was really cool how you jumped up on the roof and swung from the rafters. How did you do that?" "Well, son," said Bacon, "I didn't actually do that part. A stunt man did." "What's a stunt man?" asked his son. "That's someone who dresses like me," said Bacon, "and does things I can't do. Things that are too dangerous." "Oh, well, what about that part in ...

4124. Beautiful Words Of Life

John 6:60-71

Sermon

King Duncan

Comedian Drew Carey once said something that I think is quite funny. I hope no one will think it's sacrilegious. Carey asks, "So what's the Pope doing with bodyguards and bulletproof glass? Is he afraid someone will shoot him? [Is he afraid] he'll die and go to heaven? That would be horrible, huh?" Then Carey adds, "If the Pope's afraid to die, what chance do we have?"(1) Interesting thought. I doubt that the Pope is afraid to die. I'm sure the bulletproof glass is so he can continue leading the Church as ...

4125. Eavesdropping On Eternity

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

King Duncan

Have you ever been in a public place and found yourself eavesdropping on a conversation? Perhaps it was at the mall or on a bus or standing in the hall at school. You didn't mean to be nosy, it's just that you were the proper distance away, and you could hear every word. A few years ago, the Lexington Herald-Leader of Lexington, Kentucky, published a short list called "Classic Conversation Stoppers." If you overheard these phrases, the urge to eavesdrop would be overwhelming: For example, here's a classic ...

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